*Shot with my fisheye  Lomo camera that I am in love with.

 I found Eti crawling on his stomach in the most dramatic fashion towards the water, as if it were a mirage and he had been stranded for days in the blazing heat of the desert.

We spent some time at Jockeys Ridge.  It is one of the locations that would bring me back year after year because there is so much to explore.  

My mom stayed behind, choosing to rest on a park bench.  My dad joined us--he loves this place as much as we do.  Eti is holding his little wooden rubberband gun and Jeff has his new wooden sword.

A few years ago I did something that hurt my sister Janet.  I do not remember anymore what the offense was but I do remember, and will always remember, her response.  On a slip of paper she wrote "Tabula Rasa".  It is a Latin phrase that literally means "Scraped tablet" (a tablet from which the writing has been erased).

The Sea reminds me of Tabula Rasa, I was looking out at the water praying and confessing and such a sweet passage came to mind:

"In repentance and rest is your salvation.

In quietness and trust is your strength."  Isa 30:15

On this morning I woke at 6 am and walked down alone to see the pink sky and orange sun as it rose for me.

Three sets of deer prints were in the sand.  I followed the deep inprints for a long time.

Down by where the sand meets water, there were crab holes everywhere and delicate bird prints.

The waves came tumbling up with such force.  At the same time there was an alternating side current. The water rolled, and then the foam came and lastly the thin arch of water that slowly slid back out to sea.

The sky reflects off that last sheet of water, making it look metallic, and after it retreats, the sand is flawless, smooth as marble, all clean and new.  No animal prints, everything is wiped clean and made like new.

That is what the Lord does for me. 

I knew what Janet was saying when she wrote "Tabula Rasa", she was saying  "I forgive you and I will not bring it back to mind.  It is as if it did not happen."

This week I started praying the sermon on the mount (Matthew 5) especially the action ones, the ones we do vs. the ones done to us.

"I pray that I will realize my need for You (poor in spirit)

I pray I will be gentle and lowly

I pray I will hunger and thirst for justice

I pray I will be merciful

I pray that my heart will be pure

I pray that I will work for peace..."

Reading back over these journal notes from our vacation, I'm reminded to forgive, to be merciful, because the Lord has forgiven for so much.

I grabbed one of the poetry books my dad had in his bookshelf and brought it to the beach.   When I opened the book to read some poems to the kids I found that my father had already put little bookmarks in all of the poems about the sea.

 *As soon as the weather hits 70 degrees, Eti strips off his shirt and shoes and we do not see him fully clothed again until late fall.  Many many times we will be driving somewhere and Eti will say "Uh, guys, I don't have any shoes on," and then we have to drive back home to clothe him.  So when we saw a hammock shop that had a sign saying "No shoes or shirt required," Steve pulled right over and said "Here is your store, Eti.  Go ahead and check it out!"

In the backyard they had the world's largest hammock.

Fort Raleigh (from the 1500s)  it is really just a mound now but the story about the Roanoke Colony  is fascinating.  It drives my curiosity wild.  I do not like not having all the answers about what actually happened!

Woods at Fort Raleigh

We spent almost the entire vacation with red sunburned noses and shoulders, wind blown hair, and salty skin that smelled like coconut sunblock.  All of that sounds sooooo good to me right now!

Our home is 1100 square feet, so as you can imagine this vacation home was palatial! In the first half hour of arriving Chloe got lost on one of the decks and we could all hear her crying but could not find her. It sounds terrible but was quite funny--my Mom and Dad and Steve and I and the boys running all over the house trying to find her.

One the last day there we all played hide and go seek--kids against the adults.  My mom hid on the top bunk of a spare bedroom that no one used and fell asleep!  I hid behind a couch down in the pool table room.  It was the perfect spot because I was able to read until the kids found me.  Steve hid behind a dresser and my father hid behind the huge hot water heater in the basement.  He won.

Hot tub--pool--hot tub--beach--pool--beach--hot tub--pool--pool.  In one day. 

*My dad took this shot of us swimming in our pool at night.

My dad was training for the Army Ten-Miler and went out running every morning.  One morning Eti went with him.  He did the stretches with my dad and everything.  You can see on his face that he was taking it very seriously and so badly wanted to impress Grandpa.  When it was all over he was so tired he said "Mom please add running to my list."  Eti has a list of things he wishes were never invented--the first on the list is spinach.

My dad made him a very professional looking award for running with him and it is now hanging proudly right by Eti's bed.

*Paper airplanes in the hallway from three different stories

*I LOVE this shot of my boys.  This was taken early morning. Steve has his coffee in hand and is playing a game he and the boys invented a few years ago at Cape May.  They are playing "chase the tide" inspired by the Sandpipers that get very close to the water but never let the water actually touch them.

 Jeff's footprints look like mine--they are the same size and almost as deep. He is intense and takes everything seriously.  He walks in a straight line and with order.  Eti's footprints are hardly grounded there are no heel prints only the marks of his toes where he was sprinting.  Chloe's are a whisper--the wind blows hers away. Her prints are out of order, some show skipping, hopping on one foot, or turning and then going backwards.

*My Jeffers